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After the Halloween attack in New York, in which Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people by driving a truck onto a sidewalk, the president had harsh words for the program that brought him to the United States. The diversity visa lottery has existed for only about 30 years, but it has aided immeasurable amounts of immigrants, including many who have come to the United States and opened businesses, thus creating more jobs for U.S. citizens. Still, myths persist about what it is and what it is not.

Is it a Green Light for So-Called Undesirables?

Even before Saipov’s attack, there have been numerous pieces of misinformation circulating about the diversity visa lottery and its recipients. Perhaps the most pernicious is that the lottery is simply another way for low-skilled people to enter the United States. Contrary to popular perception, however, the countries that send the most potential immigrants to the U.S. are actually excluded from the diversity visa lottery. Because their countries almost always exceed their immigration quotas each year, citizens of countries like India, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China are not permitted to apply. The diversity lottery is intended to assist those who hail from a country with low immigration totals that may not otherwise receive a visa—for example, Saipov was an Uzbek citizen, and Uzbekistan’s immigration totals are routinely quite low.

In August 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner signed the Illinois TRUST Act, which is the strongest state-level bulwark against profiling by immigration officials yet passed into law as of this writing. It also codifies limited cooperation with U.S. immigration agencies as state policy, at least in terms of honoring detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While this grants immigrants protection, it also drags the state into a potential fight with the U.S. Justice Department, which could have consequences.

DOJ Objections

The main crux of the Justice Department’s objections is that they believe the Act appears to “restrict the sending of information regarding immigration status.” While states have a reasonable degree of latitude in setting their own immigration rules, they must, of course, comply with federal law. However, the law regarding complying with ICE detainers is not cut and dried. While law enforcement agencies must comply with a warrant or with an in-person request to hand over a person in most circumstances, an ICE detainer is a mere request to law enforcement.

The United States has granted an immigration status called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nearly two decades, beginning in 1990 with the Immigration Act. However, in early 2017, the U.S. State Department sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the program, and advised that certain groups “no longer need[ed] to be shielded from deportation” in the Secretary’s estimation. While this is not an official revocation of status, it paves the way for what will likely become a revocation. This means that some living under TPS will need to quickly depart lest they face future immigration consequences.

Who Has TPS?

Temporary Protected Status is granted at the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security to those nationals who hail from countries where conditions make it impossible to safely return at the time the status is granted—usually due to ongoing war or natural disasters. The status is usually revoked when conditions in the country are deemed to have sufficiently improved. For example, TPS was granted to Rwandans following the 1994 genocide in their country, and was rescinded in 1997 after the country’s political system had stabilized and it was deemed safe to allow nationals to return.

In the recent months since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began to crack down hard on all those lacking status, the plight of the United States’ immigration courts has come into sharp relief. A shortage of judges has led many to be unaware of the answer to the simple question of what an immigration judge even does—his or her function is quite different than the run-of-the-mill criminal or civil court judge. It can potentially change your approach to your removal case if you understand the true role of an appointed immigration judge.

Origins and Loyalties

Immigration judges are appointed by the Attorney General, who is the head of the Justice Department. The Justice Department is also the federal agency which houses the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which oversees immigration matters at the basic and intermediate levels—immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) are both governed by EOIR rules.

An increasing number of people are traveling now than what used to be the case years ago; more people are enjoying other cultures and the people within them. Sometimes, love matches will result. If this does happen to you, you may be able to bring your future spouse to live in the United States with you, assuming you are able to obtain the right visa. While some people marry while abroad and then apply for a family-based immigrant visa, others bring their fiance(e) to the U.S. using a K visa.

What is a K Visa?

A K visa is a specific type of non-immigrant (not immigrant) visa intended for use by people whose entire purpose of coming to the United States on this particular trip is to marry a U.S. citizen. Many couples confuse the K visa with permanent residency, which can cause issues—holders of green cards may travel to and from the U.S. with relative impunity, but this is not the case with any kind of nonimmigrant visa (generally, nonimmigrant visa holders are restricted either to a finite number of entries or to a very short validity period for the visa itself).

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